Around Us 10-22-09

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Three additional Texas Panhandle schools will close their doors for the remainder of the week as they struggle with absences from flu-related illness.

Sunray will close its elementary school today, Friday and Monday. Gus Birdwell Elementary in Spearman and Higgins ISD will close today and Friday and hope to reopen Monday.

Some or all campuses in at least eight Panhandle communities have closed their doors in the last two weeks because a large percentage of students were out sick with various aliments.

Illnesses include strep throat and stomach bugs, with most students reporting symptoms such as fever and nausea.

Local and state health officials say nearly all cases of the flu now circulating are the H1N1 strain, and the presumption is that anyone who tests positive for influenza has H1N1.

Booker ISD reopened Tuesday after closing for three days. Wildorado and Darrouzett school districts also reopened Monday after being closed since Oct. 14.

West Texas Middle School near Stinnett reopened Monday. Sanford-Fritch ISD closed all its campuses earlier this month after 20 percent of its students were out one day. — Amarillo Globe-News

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LUBBOCK — Witnesses told police a Texas Tech student who fell from a third-story balcony over the weekend appeared to have jumped off, a police official said.

Harvey Randal Chisamore Jr., 20, fell from his Raiders Pass apartment balcony just after 2 a.m. Sunday. He remained in critical condition Wednesday afternoon, according to hospital records.

"Some witnesses said he ran to the balcony and placed his hands on the rails and just jumped off," Sgt. John Gomez said.

Chisamore was believed to have been intoxicated at the time. The student and his roommates were hosting a party of about a dozen people at the time.

Police continued to investigate who provided the alcohol for the underage drinkers at the party. — Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

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LUBBOCK — Alcohol or drugs may have been involved when a student was crushed by a car on the Texas Tech campus Tuesday.

Phillip Andrew Turner, 18, of Bastrop, was taken to University Medical Center with serious injuries after another student drove over him at about 7 p.m. in the Bledsoe Hall parking lot, Tech police said. He was in serious but stable condition Wednesday afternoon, a hospital official said.

Turner jumped onto the hood of the car and then fell off after the driver accelerated forward, according to the report. Turner slid down the hood and fell under the car. Lubbock firefighters had to inflate airbags under the late model Ford Mustang to extract him.

The driver — an 18-year-old student from San Antonio — has not been charged pending the results of the blood test, a Tech police official said. — Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

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LUBBOCK — The Cotton Club, inspired by the legendary venue that played a major role in Lubbock’s music history, is expected to reopen with a Halloween concert by a local band.

This building at 6410 E. U.S. 84, outside the Lubbock city limits, actually is the rebuilt Cotton Club, constructed after the original burned down in the early 1960s, according to Buddy Holly historian Bill Griggs. "The original was located near 50th Street and Railroad Avenue," he said.

James Fox has invested about $30,000 thus far, hoping that Cotton Club history will attract the interest of touring and local bands. Elvis Presley, Fats Domino and Little Richard are among the greats who performed at the original more than 50 years ago.

Fox believes the Cotton Club, which most recently was turned into a strip club called Nibbles, was a weapon with which West Texans fought segregation in the early days. "The club’s mission statement from the early days declared that it would be blind to race, creed and genre of music," he said. "Lubbock was segregated back then, but this was where everyone who loved music could get together."

Fox said he will keep the same mission statement. He plans to book concerts featuring Tejano, rock, rap, country and pop. — Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

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DUMAS — A Dumas man who sustained second- and third-degree burns on 60 percent of his body remained in critical condition Wednesday at University Medical Center in Lubbock, officials said.

Dumas fire officials identified the man as Michael Jason Duby, 34. Firefighters said Duby was in a 1996 Grand Am parked in an alley near the 200 block of South Maddox Avenue on Tuesday afternoon when it caught fire. Fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze. — Amarillo Globe-News